West Ham’s Felipe Anderson’s Unsung Defensive Impact

When Felipe Anderson became Manuel Pellegrini’s highest-profile signing of last year’s transfer window, fans were excited to see the Brazilian winger bolster the Irons’ attack. However, Anderson soon showed the league he can do much than just create and score.

There is no question that Felipe Anderson enjoyed a successful first campaign in the top flight of English football. He scored 9 goals and 4 assists in 36 league appearances and was instrumental in rejuvenating West Ham’s attack. A lot of analysts, though, have overlooked Anderson’s impressive defensive contributions to Pellegrini’s side.

In the 2018/2019 Premier League season, Anderson completed 89 tackles which was tied for 9th highest in the Premier League. He is, by far, the most attacking-minded player to appear in the top 10. To put this in perspective, he completed 15 more successful tackles than World Cup winning Center Defensive Midfielder N’golo Kante.

A big part of West Ham’s improved season came from a team-wide defensive effort that was stingier and more difficult for opposing sides to break down. Obviously, many Hammers fans will look to the contributions of new signings Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena, and reigning Hammer of the Year Lukasz Fabianski as key factors. But Anderson’s impact, while subtler, should not be underestimated.

In the 2017/2018 “season of turmoil,” The Irons conceded 68 goals, an average of 1.79 per match. In this year’s campaign, those numbers drastically improved with the team only conceding 55 goals on the season, an average of 1.45 per match. It’s hard to deny that Anderson’s ability to track back, particularly in the second half of the season, helped the team in this regard.

After an uneven start, many fans on social media were labeling Anderson as “lazy” and questioning whether he had the work-rate required to be successful in the Premier League. After all, there is an extensive history of highly-touted foreign players who lacked the ability to put in the demanding defensive shifts that this physically grueling league requires. To the delight of West Ham fans, Anderson has proven the naysayers wrong. In the latter half of the campaign, he showed he has the physical and mental toughness to be a quality player in England for a long time.

If Hammers fans have reason to be optimistic about next season, Felipe Anderson is sure to be a big part of it. He is a key cog in the machine that Manuel Pellegrini is assembling in East London. As we enjoy the creative and beautiful goals he will inevitably score for West Ham, let’s not forget to take note of the small ways in which he helps the Hammers’ defensive performance.